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Andean coca output rises for the first time this century
Cultivation of coca, the raw material for cocaine, increased last year in the Andean region for the first time this century, according to figures released on Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.The report indicated that in spite of a reduction of more than 50 per cent in cultivation over the past five years in Colombia, the world's biggest coca producer, higher production in Bolivia and Peru accounted for an overall increase of 3 per cent across the Andean region in 2004. wonderful. unstable Bolivia and a resurgent Shining path, funded by cocaine Coca cultivation rose 17 per cent in Bolivia, while Peru's coca surface increased by 14 per cent. The report said Peru was now responsible for one-third of the world's cocaine production. "The increase in Bolivia and Peru is worrisome," said Antonio Maria Costa, UNODC executive director. "After the sustained decline in the Andean region during the past five years, however, it is too early to characterise the increase in 2004 as a trend reversal." The figures challenge Washington's insistence that there is no evidence of a "balloon effect" in the region, in which the eradication of coca crops in one area pushes it into a neighbouring country or region. A US government report released in March said there was virtually no increase in regional coca production between 2003 and 2004. Congress is expected this month to consider President George W. Bush's 2006 budget proposals for the State Department's Andean Counterdrug Initiative. Although the budget request increases anti-drug aid to Colombia, it would cut money to Peru, the second biggest coca producer, from more than $115m this year to $97m in 2006. Anti-drug aid to Bolivia will be trimmed from more than $90mto $80m. Nils Ericsson, head of Peru's anti-drug agency, says Peru risks becoming a "narco-state" without drastic measures to reduce coca planting. Mr Ericsson estimates that Peru is capable of producing between 150 and 170 tons of cocaine a year. Elmer Cubas, a Peruvian economist, has warned that Peru may be in a "pre-boom" period in which conditions existed for a repeat of the late 1980s, when coca crops spread rapidly through the jungle region. which would fund the cocaine gangs who are making common cause with the Islamacists .... Posted by: too true 2005-06-15 |
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